Today my outboard cut out 5 times on the river at low speeds, not good with 2 children under 5 in the boat. I had to squeeze the fuel bulb a few times then it woud start up again and run fine. On our return up the river i used more throttle and it was fine until i slowed to reach the slip then the bloody thing conked out again!
Can anyone give me some ideas, bearing in mind i am a roofer not a mechanic!
When it conked out again were you able to squeeze the fuel bulb and get it to run okay?
There are a lot of possibilities. Chances are you need a carb cleaning, or the fuel pump is failing. If it is the 9.9hp motor I would remove the carb, clean all the jets and passages, then take it for a ride and see how it does.
Hi again Peter, didnt manage to get to the sea today as i lost confidence in the engine which was a bloody shame as i had been looking forward to it all week!
Each time it stopped i squeezed the bulb then away it went again. I only bought the engine last week and am not sure how long it has been stored/unused. It was fine when going at faster speeds and got the boat planing great which was good fun. Just stopped at low revs for no apparent reason but as i say, started up again each time after a few squeezes. Maybe i should take it for a service next week!
Other than an oil change on the motor I doubt it needs any service work. It does need to be repaired. If you can pump the bulb and all is well, you either have a plugged fuel filter or a pin hole in the fuel pump. Fuel pumps are often pretty cheap and easy to change.
There are lots of little pertinent pieces of info that can help determine the exact cause. For instance does the engine stall immediately after coming off plane? Or does it take a couple of minutes of idling first? Reason that question is important is, the carb float bowl holds enough fuel to run for a few minutes at idle, but much shorter at speed.
it only does it at low speeds regardless of coming off a plane. Going along fine then all of a sudden a few variations in the engine sound the off it went
Try restarting it without pumping the fuel primer bulb, and I bet it will start. My first bet would be a simple carb adjustment to richen the mixture up. Often when a motor is lean at idle it will just stall like someone shut it off. Sometimes you can catch it in time, and blip the throttle though. Try turning the mixture screw out 1/4-1/2 turn and see if it stops stalling.
The other side of it is the carb may be slightly plugged, which will require dis assembly to properly clean the bowl and jets.
Thanks all, took it in to have it looked at. Turned out to be a small fuel leak in the internal fuel filter causing some air to get into the fuel line. All sorted now
